Automatic gas-igniter.



No. 627,654. Patented June 27, I899. J. PERL.

AUTOMATIC GAS IGNITEB.

(Application flied July 274897.

(No Model.)

replaced by a fresh one.

. UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JACQUES PERL, on BERLIN, GERMANY.

AUTOMATIC GAS-IGNITER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 627,654, dated June 27,1899.

' Application filed Jul 27, 1897.

To 61.66 whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JACQUES PERL, a subject of the King of Prussia,German Emperor,

and a resident of Berlin, Kingdom of Prussia,

German Empire, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inAutomatic Gaslgniters, of which the following is an exact specification.

This invention refers to automatic gasigniters of the kind in which theignition is effected by means of a small ball, disk, or the likecontaining finely-divided platinum or another metal of the platinumgroup. This ball or disk when coming in contact with the gas begins toglow and causes thus 'the ignition of the gas. In consequence,.however,of said ball or disk remaining in the burning gas or in the flame,respectively, the aforementioned property of the finely-divided platinumto become glowing when coming in contact with the gas soon ceases, andthe ball or disk in question can thus be used only for a short time ormust after a short time be To do away with this drawback, a constructionhas been devised in which the platinum ball ignites an auxiliary flame,which then in its turn ignites the main flame, whereafter the auxiliaryflame is automatically extinguished. Thus in this construction theplatinum ball is removed from the intense heat of the main flame; butthe construction working in said way is complicated and gets easily outof order. I have attained the desired effect by means of a very simpledevice, one form of construction of which is shown as an example in theaccompanying drawings, wherein- Figure 1 illustrates a sectionalelevation of a burner provided with my improvements. Fig. 2 is a planview of- Fig. 1, the chimney being in section. Y

This device may be regarded in a sense as an inversion of theconstruction before mentioned in that I do not move the flame away fromthe platinum ball, but the platinum ball away from the flame, or, in thecase of an incandescent lamp, from the incandescentbody. 111 the form ofconstruction shown my novel device is applied to an incandescent lampand the platinum ball a is secured to the outer end of a helix b, formedby a metallic strip or band composed of two different sel-n No. 646.122.on model.)

metals. The metal, having the greater extensibility is located at theouter side of the strip or band. The other or inner end of the helix 1)is fixed to a bar 0, secured by a screw d to one of the chimney-carryingarms 6 of the burner. An upwardly-extending rod f, also fixed to thebar0, forms at its upper end a hook f, which takes over the helix and holdsthe outer end of the latter, with the platinum ball a, in proper workingposition. The strip or band I) when heated by the flame 'of the burnerextends and, owing to said strip or band forminga helix and the outermetal bein g capable of a greater extensibility, the helix contracts, sothat the platinum ball a is carried automatically into the positionshown in dotted lines. In this position the platinum ball is so fardistant from the flame or from the incandescent body, respectively, thatits glowing capacity is not in the least impaired. The ball a remainsactive for a very long time. In the trials made up to now and stillin'progress a ball has already been used for more than one thousandhours of burning side, having different coefficients of expansion, abody a of finely-divided platinum carried by said strips, the two stripsof metal beingin such position relatively to the burner, and to eachother, and so combined with the body a, that when the strips aresubjected to the heat of the flame, the body a is carried out of theinfluence of the heat of the flame by the movement of the said metalstrips, for

the purpose as set forth.

2. In an automatic gas-lighting device, the combination with agas-burner and the bearing-rod c, of a spiral-wound metal strip,composed of two strips of metal having different coefficients ofexpansion, said strip being attached at one end to the bearing-rod c,the

body a consisting of finely-divided platinum carried by the other end ofthe strip, said body standing in proximity to the jet-orifice of theburner, when the flame is not burning, and the two strips of metal beingso arranged relatively to each other as to carry the body a out of theinfluence of the flame, after the same has been ignited, substantiallyas set forth.

3. In an automatic gas-lighting device, the combination with agas-burner and bearingrod 0, of a spiral-wound metal strip,composed oftwo strips of metal, having different coefficients of expansion, saidstrip being attached at one end to the bearing-rod c, a body aconsisting of finely-divided platinum carried by the other end of thestrips, said body, when

